The present invention relates generally to article carriers, and more particularly to an adjustable article carrier wherein the distance between the sidewalls may be adjusted to conform to the size and general shape of the articles within the carrier.
There is a need for a portable article carrier allowing adjustment to securely hold articles of various sizes and shapes safely in place. This need, however, has never been completely satisfied by the carriers available in the marketplace.
The inconvenience and irritation of a full grocery sack tipping over in a car is well known. This is not to mention actual loss in terms of crushed eggs, burst milk cartons and broken bottles or jars that are sometimes a result. In an effort to alleviate the problem, some people have been known to keep a cardboard box in their car for holding the grocery sacks upright. A regular box, however, includes fixed walls providing no adjustment to the size of the articles being carried. Therefore, unless the dimensions of the box match the dimensions of the articles to be carried, the box will not provide the support sufficient to hold the articles in the upright position. Also, after a few uses the cardboard sides may become bent or bowed outwardly. This condition allows a top-heavy grocery sack(s) to lean over sufficiently to tip the box and spill the contents, thus defeating the purpose.
Also, typically, a cardboard box or carton cannot be folded up into a compact form when not in use. Quite often, this means that the box is stored in the garage or other storage area outside the car with its availability as an article carrier dependent upon the person remembering to place it in the car when its use is anticipated.
Other prior art article holders or carriers for other purposes suffer from a lack of adaptability to the problem of supporting this type of article. The carriers inherently do not allow sufficient adjustment to meet the demands of the job. U.S. Pat. No. 1,521,470 to Pearl discloses such a storage device for holding a stack of papers. The distance between the sides is not adjustable as the bottom corners of the side panels are pinned into slots in the cooperating end panels. Therefore, this device is limited to holding a stack of papers or the like of relatively light weight and within a narrow range of width dimensions.